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We Knew It Wouldn’t Stop With Confederate Statues: Look What’s Happening To Civil War Battlefields

After the tragic events that unfolded at Charlottesville over a year ago, tensions have been running high between Right Left-wingersgers. The incident reignited a debate over Confederate monuments that has in recent years become a growing issue. Homegrown terrorist groups like ANTIFA and BLM took advantage of the turmoil in Charlottesville, using it as a battle cry to rally the left to demand all Confederate monuments be removed due to the division and hate they supposedly represent.

The truth is that these monuments were erected to honor the men and women who fought and died for their beliefs, and no it wasn’t about slavery. At the time of the Civil War, the southern states were primarily populated by working-class folks who didn’t have the funds or land to require slaves. According to the 1860 census the entire population of the U.S. was roughly 31,183,582. Of that number, 393,975 made up the number of slaveholders in the entire U.S. for both North and South, or roughly 8%.

Thanks to the violent actions taken by groups like ANTIFA and BLM, a city has canceled its annual Civil War re-enactment in Manassas, Virginia. The event which occurs every year to honor the fallen soldiers of the North and South was scheduled for the weekend of Aug. 25 to Aug. 27.

Manassas city officials canceled the event and stated the decision was made “for the safety of our residents, visitors and reenactors.”

“Recent events have ignited passions in this country surrounding the Civil War and the symbols representing it. The City of Manassas is saddened by these events and abhors the violence happening around the country,” the statement read.

According to Richmond:

The two-day event in Manassas, scheduled to start Aug. 25, was meant to share how both Union and Confederate soldiers lived during the Civil War.

The event, which the city began hosting in 2011 to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the beginning of the Civil War, has previously featured tent cities set up in the downtown area, an evening ball, and lectures about how the war started and why.

Patty Prince, a Manassas city spokeswoman, said some of the re-enactors called event organizers with worries that the racially charged atmosphere across the country over whether to tear down Civil War monuments would lead to violence.

“It’s just not a good time to have it,” Prince said about the event. “It’s a very sad time in our country.”

Manassas is where the First Battle of Bull Run was fought in 1861, a key victory for the Confederate Army that forced the Union Army to realize the conflict would not be as easy as it initially believed. The Second Battle of Bull Run was fought a year later.

Those facts and other aspects of the war that killed 620,000 people are important for people to remember, said Georgia Meadows, vice president of the 49th Virginia Infantry re-enactment group, which had been preparing to participate in the Manassas event.

“We don’t take sides,” said Meadows, who started her organization with her husband, Tony Meadows, 32 years ago. “You can’t erase it, and you can’t replace it. You’d be surprised how many schoolchildren don’t know who won or lost or even the cause of the Civil War.”

Meadows was surprised to learn the event had been canceled but said she understood the reason.

Although there were no plans to re-enact a battle, several people were worried that the event would invite trouble after violent protests in Charlottesville last weekend led to the death of Heather Heyer, 32, who was hit by a car allegedly driven by a white nationalist. Two police officers also died when their helicopter crashed.

“We’re out there standing in 100-degree heat to teach people history, and we don’t get paid for it,” Meadows said. “Now we have to deal with this kind of nonsense.”

Modern Civil War re-enactments started taking shape during 1961–1965. During those years many Americans became fascinated with the Civil War thanks to the Civil War Centennial. Their popularity grew in the 1980’s and 1990’s mainly because of the great success of the 125th Anniversary re-enactment near the original Manassas battlefield which was attended by more than 6,000 re-enactors.

For many years, re-enacting of the Civil War blew up in popularity peaking in the late 1990’s to early 2000’s. These events were primarily used to honor the fallen soldiers and to educate the public on the war that tore our country in two. Lately, thanks to the climate of hate that has been created primarily from groups like ANTIFA, BLM and the KKK, people’s interest has been waning.

What was once used as a tool to educate people about American history is now becoming villainized. Manassas was the site of two great battles. The first time the armies met at the location was the first major battle between the North and South in 1861. It was also where re-enacting gained its major popularity. Unfortunately, it now appears to be where the American past-time begins to die.

If the left’s goal was to erase American history, they are doing a good job, but it’s always darkest before the dawn. The truth will never be suppressed.